Hey there metalheads, were you guys at the Iron Maiden, Dio, Motorhead show over at the Long Beach Arena? I was, along with about 6,000 other screaming rockers. I asked an Arena employee what the schedule was I noticed at the bottom of his sheet, under the title "Crowd Type" it said "heavy drinking". I didn't particularly find the crowd any more rowdy than usual, just great metal fans. My partner in crime Rotten Robbie covered the Iron Maiden portion elsewhere in this issue so I thought I'd tell you a little about the rest of the show.

Opening act Motorhead led by Lemmy Kilmeister blasted through a great 40-minute set of their frenetic speed metal. Along with long time bandmates Phil Campbell and Niko McBain they are touring in support of their latest release "Hammered". Tonight's set featured many cuts of the CD including "Shut Your Mouth" and "Voice From the War". The new stuff is typical Motorhead, blasting grooves and in your face vocals, it is the essence of what Motorhead is. I went and checked out their official website www.imotorhead.com and found out these boys were recently inducted in the world famous "Rock & Roll Walk of Fame" at the Guitar Center on Sunset. Congratulations guys!

Ronnie James Dio came on next and played a great set that from what I could tell was comprised of album title songs. This is testimony to how many great CDs he has had spanning his career. From his Sabbath days we heard "The Mob Rules" and "Heaven and Hell", "Long Live Rock n Roll" from his Rainbow stint and from his solo material they played "Holy Diver", "Last in Line" among others. For this tour Ronnie recruited long time guitarist for Craig Goldy and are promoting their latest release "Killing the Dragon" and they also have a recent DVD release titled "Evil or Divine". I am going to try to get me a copy and let you know how it is. The show was tremendous with Ronnie still able to get pumped up and excited about the big crowd and his voice is still strong as ever. To find out more about Ronnie's career, plans and other interesting things go visit his website at www.ronniejamesdio.com. To find out more interesting things about me then go check out www.revnkevin.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As seen in Rock City News